Rue21 of Warrendale asked a federal judge to dismiss a pregnancy and gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former senior buyer.

In an answer filed Monday to an amended complaint filed by Angela Ferguson of Ambridge, an attorney for the clothing and accessories store denied the allegations in the complaint and asked Judge William S. Stickman, of the District Court of Western Pennsylvania, to dismiss the suit with prejudice, a permanent dismissal.

Ferguson, whose last position with Rue21 was as senior buyer during her employment from October 2016 to June 12, 2020, told the company she was pregnant, and was approved for maternity leave in January 2020, according to the suit filed on her behalf by attorney Amy N. Williamson of Edgar Snyder and Associates of Pittsburgh.

Shortly after that, Ferguson said she was passed over for a promotion, and she and a number of other employees were furloughed in March 2020 in the company's “hunkering down phase” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She was terminated in June that year in a cost-cutting effort, but lower performing peers were retained and the company filled her position with a new employee soon after she was fired, according to the suit.

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